to have done that to master it. What horrible moments had he been forced to overcome in prison?
I looked down at my hands clenched around the edge of the island. I softly asked, “You saw that man when you got out, right?”
“Yeah, I got picked up when I got out.”
“And then?”
“Then taken to a house party.”
I raised a brow. “A house party?”
“A celebration to be exact.”
“Celebrating what?”
Pause. “My release.”
There was so much not being said in these short responses. Why did I constantly feel like I was prying information out of the men in my life? I looked up at him, dissecting his soft expression with a cagy look.
“What was the girl reference?” I demanded then, because I was a girl and shit like that stuck like flies on shit.
Still transparent, Conor answered. “He had a girl sent to the room I was supposed to be staying in. She was naked when I got out of the shower.”
I stated the obvious. “He sent her to fuck you.”
“Yeah.”
Anger hit me like a tsunami. I gritted my teeth, seething. “And then what?”
“I threw her out, dove.”
I eyed him, knowing full well he was being honest. He had no reason to lie, but… God, I needed some reassurance right now. “You didn’t know I’d be waiting for you. You said so yourself.”
“So?”
“So… weren’t you tempted?”
“No,” he simply answered, his gaze never leaving my face.
“Why?” I whispered, heart in my throat.
“Because I was still yours, dove.”
I blinked back tears as he approached me then. His arms came around me, picking me up and settling me down on the island. He cupped his hands around my face, forcing me to look into his eyes. I saw the stark honesty there, and vulnerability too.
“The second I saw you, it’s only been you,” he told me, gauging my expression closely. “I fled the house and ran to see you because I had to know.”
“Know what?” I choked out.
He dropped his forehead to mine. “If I needed to let you go once and for all.”
A lone tear escaped my eye. He brushed it away with his thumb. “Oh, dove, if you only knew what you’ve done to me,” he tenderly said. “I could never be with someone else again, no matter if you’d moved on or not.”
“Really?” I asked, letting my vulnerability show. “Because I didn’t know if you’d moved on, either. I’d have these horrible thoughts, like maybe I was too young and I remembered things differently. Sometimes I had to convince myself it was real between us.”
“It was real,” he confirmed solemnly. “All of it.”
I breathed out a shaky breath. “But you still felt like a stranger when I saw you on that street. I was so scared we were different people.”
“We could be completely different people, it doesn’t change how we felt.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed.
“We have a lot of making up to do,” he said. “A lot of time to learn each other again. I’m excited for that, Charlotte. I want to know you all over again, the old you and the new.”
My heart slowed, the aggression in me fading.
He kissed me softly, languidly. It wasn’t a heated kiss and it didn’t lead anywhere, but it was the best kind of kiss. It comforted me, put the negative thoughts to rest and filled me with hope that things were going to be okay.
When he pulled back, I was worrying my lip, looking at him sombrely. “Conor,” I whispered, “I don’t like seeing you look that way when I walked through the door, and I think that guy put it there. Is he going to be trouble?”
I didn’t like that he took a few seconds to respond. He searched for an answer, and I didn’t want bullshit. I needed to understand who the fuck this guy was. To throw him a celebratory party, too? What in the fuck did that mean? And who the hell showed up to that party?
How many friends could you possibly make in maximum security prison? And did they all happen to crash this get-together? Because that meant they all had left prison, and that shit was too serendipitous in my books.
“He won’t be trouble,” he firmly stated. “Him and I…we’ve got history. Some unfinished business.”
“Can you tell me what that means?”
His lips flattened. “I can’t talk about it, pup.”
I frowned. I didn’t like this at all. “Did he make you do things in prison?”
His expression cooled for a moment and he didn’t skip a beat, stating, “He did.”